Digital Edition versus Old School

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Permalink Reply by David Pilcher on June 25, 2008 at 3:58pm

I think both work well and compliment each other. That's why most publishing businesses have a website. They want to promote their business and their product - the printed magazine. I know there are publishers who think going completely digital is the wave of the future but for now the best way to get advertising into people's hands is by putting it in their mailbox.

Sure you can sign up for e-mails or RSS feeds but the printed page looks and feels better than just the raw information. Plus, advertising gets lost in a lot of the digital text only version of short factual clips of information. Magazines hold a readers attention with content and design and contain ads that also attract a reader to new products. Let's face it - if anywhere in the world - the US is a consuming country. Direct mail advertising in the form of free distribution magazines or through a subscription is still the best way to get results from your advertising dollar.

I'm sure we've all seen the studies where magazine ads get better response than even the entertaining vehicle of Television. I wonder how the internet ranks in moving the buyer to making a purchase against the printed magazine.

I'll have to search the internet to find out. . .

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Permalink Reply by Lateefah Simpson on June 25, 2008 at 4:02pm

Very interesting, I'd like to see that research myself. :)

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Permalink Reply by Erika Geiss on June 27, 2008 at 12:54pm

Hi Lateefah,

I like both for different reasons and for the sake of full disclosure, I happen to publish/am editor-in-chief of a DE. My reasons for liking print are that yes, you can physically pick it up, manipulate it, smell the pages (I'm a geek--love the smell of new books and magazines), and like Amanda said, clip things. But, they do take up a lot of room after you've amassed a quantity of them an add to the clutter (no matter how organized you are). I like DEs because for certain things, I'm reading online anyway, so the DE is where I am. (But it's kind of hard to curl up with your laptop.) While Kindle is bulky (from the looks of it, I don't have one), I think that as e-paper and other DE readers become more universal, that using them won't be any different than the way we use MP3 players. I'd love to hop on a plane with my 50 favorite magazines and books in my carry-on, the way I can with my 500 favorite songs. Will DEs replace paper entirely? I don't think so. Have MP3s/digital music downloads replaced CDs entirely?

From the perspective of the publisher, I love that producing a DE cuts on our overhead and is a greener/more eco-friendly solution to print. It also means on the design side that we can fix issues "on the fly" if (gasp) we find one, and unlike other eco-friendly publishing formats, we can include multiimedia content. We only produce a DE, and people have asked if we'd ever produce a paper edition. But because one of our reasons for doing a DE is to be greener, it'd only happen (for us) if we found a 100%-green printer/publisher. I agree with Mark...media consumption is changing, and that might mean for some publishers to look for greener alternatives for their printed editions. If being eco-friendly becomes a bigger factor in consumer choice, the publishers who aren't interested in DE or who's customers aren't, might find that seeking greener alternatives for printing might help them maintain/improve market share if the reason for a consumer to switch to a DE is environmentally related.

Also, not everyone can go digital. It's just not suitable/wouldn't make sense for certain publications (IMHO) such as in-flight magazines for example, or a children's mag like Highlights.

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Permalink Reply by Pierre Bisaillon on July 2, 2008 at 4:10pm

I think a number of the posts here have certainly touched on the core of the DE discussion ... I don't see DE's as being the print killer that some talk about. I still receive many pubs as print editions and love holding them or stuffing them in my briefcase but certainly do enjoy the added benefits of DE's. (just so you know, I'm with a DE provider) It's fairly difficult to search through a publisher's archives with print. Passing on an article I've come across ... I've pretty much stopped clipping articles for family and friends honestly expecting to pass them on "the next time I see them". It simply doesn't happen. Perhaps it's because I need to get it done when I think of it but with DE's, I can.
Our experience is the most successful DE publisher's complement their print editions with DE's to generate extra revenue by offering their advertisers new ways to market.
One of our clients had great success with a email campaign to 3.5 million readers. Just imagine what the cost of that campaign would have been if carried out in print?

It's not a zero-sum game but rather one builds from the other.

Pierre

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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Shugg on September 16, 2008 at 10:47am

As a former magazine editor and current online publisher, I would have to agree that the two complement each other. Magazines are for long, lazy reads on Sunday morning in your favorite chair. They're even better for long car rides. I completely digest one magazine after another during road trips (luckily my husband prefers driving.)

However, good magazines also offer great websites that offers quick facts and short, direct copy along with photos and the ability to interact electronically.

Digital technology has transformed the publishing industry because it enables online magazines and social networks to operate side by side without really hurting each other too much--but only if the paper magazine offers unique, in-depth copy you can't get anywhere else.

I chose Ning for my site, Triangle TRACKS at www.triangletracks.com. It helps me transform a news release into a forum or blog post in minutes. I also have created what I call a "linkzine," which you can check out at my site by clicking on "September Linkzine" in the top left corner.

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Permalink Reply by Steven LLorca on September 29, 2008 at 9:15am

My apologies if there is a post to this already, but what tools are being used to create your digital editions? My understanding of the process is limited - pdf to swf, swf displayed in a RIA. Are any of you doing this in-house? Outsourced to Zino or the like?

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